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Warning! Watch For Work-At-Home Scams Mosaic Telecom News Keeping Your Children Safe Online This Month's FAQ How Do I Find And Participate In Twitter Chats? Sites Of The Month Great Sites To Check Out In October Short Tutorial Using Keyboard Shortcuts For Your Browser |
Dear Mosaic Telecom Subscriber In October, we think about the ghosts and goblins of Halloween. But as you know, there are plenty of frightening threats online all year. One of these is the threat of work-at-home scams, which we discuss at the start of this issue. Be cautious if you're in the job market that you don't end up losing money instead of gaining employment. Also in this issue are tips about participating in Twitter chats, and handy keyboard shortcuts to help you save time while Web browsing. Be sure to check out Great Sites for scary-good Halloween decorating ideas from Martha Stewart, as well as advice on avoiding the creepy bed bugs you've heard about on the news. The goal of each of our eNewsletters is to keep our subscribers informed regarding their Internet connection and to improve their Internet experience. We think you'll find this information interesting. To see what's inside this issue, simply scroll down the eNewsletter or click on the links within the index to the left. Thanks for reading! - Your friends at Mosaic Telecom |
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Warning! – Watch For Work-At-Home Scams
Work-at-home scams have been around for decades, but the economic downturn has fostered their growth since these scams prey on the unemployed or underemployed who are desperately seeking income. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says complaints about work-at-home scams are increasing faster than fraud complaints overall, and have almost doubled in the last five years. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently issued warnings about two work-at-home scams involving shipping packages overseas—one claimed to offer positions as a "gift wrapper" for Best Buy, and the other, to be a "mail manager" for an online company.
 Though there are legitimate ways to work from home, if a company is offering something that seems too good to be true, it usually is. An important distinction to make is whether you're actually being offered a job, or just the chance to make money.
Here are red flags to look for when reviewing work-at-home offers you see online:
Mosaic Telecom News – Keeping Your Children Safe Online
There is a whole new language of communicating on line - Internet slang
We know that keeping up on current Internet trends can be tough, especially for a parent who doesn't get online much. There are guides; to help you understand what your children are talking about on the Internet. Also, there are resources to help you further understand Internet slang, online acronyms, net trends, and overall Internet etiquette. There's a new trend popular among teenage chatters, and your filters won't pick up any of it. Acronyms like lol (laughing out loud),or bth, (by the way), or woot, (derived from hoot). Today's kids are also finding shortcuts, and use single letter words: U replaces you, R replaces are, o replaces oh, m replaces am etc... Less popular, but still widely used (especially in games) is true l33tspeak, which involves using numbers instead of letters. 4 replaces A, 3 replaces E, 7 replaces T 1 replaces L, and $ replaces S. These are just a few examples; some of it is worse like /\/ and /\/\ , or 13 instead of B. This is a whole new way for on line users to communicate. Today's children are taking their creativity to the Internet, and it's affecting the way they speak. Kids (just like computer programmers) don't like to type a lot, so they try to shorten their keystrokes whenever possible. It's not only affecting the way they speak, it's starting to affect the way they write. So bad in fact, that school teachers have even reported seeing "lol" (laughing out loud) turn up on hand-written papers. (How would you pronounce that?) It is difficult to know if a parent is being too protective and we know we cannot keep our children off line 100 percent of the time, however we can educate ourselves on how to know how our children are spending their time on line and keep them safe. There will always be a way to communicate on line in code, it may be 133tspeak or another language, therefore education is the key to keep parents up to date and knowledgeable on these issues. This website will educate you about on line slang and what your children may be really communicating. http://www.noslang.com/ Didja Know that October is National Cooperative Month and Mosaic Telecom is hosting Co-op Kick Off Day in our Cameron location Thursday, October 7th from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Located at 401 S 1st Street, Cameron WI.
This Month's FAQ – How Do I Find And Participate In Twitter Chats?
Question: I've heard that Twitter chats can be both fun and educational. How do I find out about chats that discuss my topics of interest?
One way to find out about the Twitter chats scheduled each week is to check out this Google Document: http s://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=ruaz3GZveOsoXUOOt86B3AQ# You'll find nearly 200 Twitter chats on a wide variety of topics including business/career issues as well as things like parenting, baking, travel, gardening, dogs, and cars. You can also find chats simply by monitoring the hashtags (#) that come through your Twitter stream, since every Twitter chat is given a hashtag. If a certain one sounds interesting to you, click on the hashtag to see what participants are talking about. To participate in a Twitter chat, do your homework to find out if there are rules for participants (such as sending in questions ahead of time). Also make sure you include the appropriate hashtag on all of your tweets. Sites Of The Month – Great Sites To Check Out In October
Size Up The News
www.howbigreally.com – When you see stories in the news about natural disasters and other events, it can be hard to imagine their scope, especially when they happen in unfamiliar places. This site overlays the size and shape of floods, oil spills, borders, and other items on a satellite image of your geographic area. For example, you can see that the size of the Gulf oil spill is equivalent to the size of the city of Chicago, many surrounding suburbs, a good portion of Lake Michigan, and part of Indiana. Expert Yard Advice www.yardcare.com – Visit this site to get expert tips on lawncare, garden tools, plant selection, water conservation, weed control, and many other yard care topics. Pick your region on the interactive map to get advice specific to your climate; visit the Yardcare Trends section to stay current; and return to the site regularly to read Tips of the Month. You can also search the site to get answers to your specific yardcare questions. Banish Bed Bugs www.medicinenet.com – Bed bugs have been in the news a lot lately, and A>this site tells you everything you need to know about them. (Did you know that although bed bugs have wings, they can't fly?) Learn how to spot them, how to avoid bites, and what to do about bites and infestations at home and in hotels. Read the helpful information, or take the Bed Bugs Quiz to see how much you already know. You can also look at the Bed Bug Slideshow for close-up views of the creepy critters. Scary-Good Halloween Decorations www.marthastewart.com – Get ready for Halloween decorating with dozens of spooky ideas and how-tos from Martha Stewart. Get step-by-step instructions and videos for displays like Graveyard Ghosts, Birdbath Pumpkin Display, Witch's Cauldron, Tombstone Yard Decorations, and Creepy Snakes. Or, if you're still trying to figure out what costume to wear, take the "What Should You Be for Halloween?" quiz. 100 Tailgating Recipes www.foodn etwork.com – Football season is here and it's time to get ready for tailgating! This site can help with 100 tantalizing tailgating recipes. Selections include Fried Onion Rings With Chili Sauce, Taco Soup, Sausage Skewers, and Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Shrimp. Search for recipes; find them by category (main dishes, party bites, sweets, drinks); or see them being prepared by your favorite Food Network stars. Short Tutorial – Using Keyboard Shortcuts For Your Browser
As we noted in our last issue, many common tasks you perform within your browser can be accomplished a lot more quickly using keyboard shortcuts.
This month, we share some additional keyboard shortcuts for Safari, Internet Explorer 8, and Firefox with you. (Note: Some keyboards spell out "command" and "control" rather than use "CMD" and "CTRL.")
Shortcuts for Moving Between Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Safari 4.0 Computer Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Next Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "]" keys simultaneously to select the next tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "]" keys simultaneously to select the next tab. Previous Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "[" keys simultaneously to select the previous tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "[" keys simultaneously to select the previous tab. Stop (PC) Press the "ESC" key to stop a webpage from loading. (Mac) Press the "ESC" key to stop a webpage from loading. New Window (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "N" keys simultaneously to open an additional browser window. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "N" keys simultaneously to open an additional browser window. Close Window (PC) Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "W" keys simultaneously to close the current browser window. (Mac) Press the "CMD" "shift," and "W" keys simultaneously to close the current browser window. Forward (PC) Press the "ALT" and "right arrow" keys simultaneously to go forward one page. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "[" keys simultaneously to go forward one page. Back (PC) Press the "ALT" and "left arrow" keys simultaneously to go back one page. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "]" keys simultaneously to go back one page. Close Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "W" keys simultaneously to close a tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "W" keys simultaneously to close a tab. Shortcuts for Bookmarking Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Safari 4.0 Computer Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Bookmark Current Page (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark the current page. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark the current page. View Bookmarks (PC) Press the "CTRL," "Alt," and "B" keys simultaneously to view your bookmarks. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "Alt," and "B" keys simultaneously to view your bookmarks. Shortcuts for Moving Between Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 8 Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Next Tab Press the "CTRL" and "tab" keys simultaneously to select the next tab. Previous Tab Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "tab" keys simultaneously to select the previous tab. Stop Press the "ESC" key to stop a webpage from loading. New Window Press the "CTRL" and "N" keys simultaneously to open an additional browser window. Close Window Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "W" keys simultaneously to close the current browser window. Forward Press the "ALT" and "right arrow" keys simultaneously to go to the next page. Back Press the "ALT" and "left arrow" or "backspace" keys simultaneously to go to the previous page. Close Tab Press the "CTRL" and "W" keys simultaneously to close a tab. Home Press the "ALT" and "home" keys simultaneously to go to your Home page. Shortcuts for Creating Favorite Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Internet Explorer 8 Computer Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Bookmark Current Page Press the "ALT" and "D" keys simultaneously to add the current page to your favorites. View Bookmarks Press the "ALT" and "C" keys simultaneously to view your favorites. Shortcuts for Moving Between Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox 3.5 Computer Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Next Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "page down" keys simultaneously to select the next tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "Option," and "right arrow" keys simultaneously to select the next tab. Previous Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "page up" keys simultaneously to select the previous tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "Option," and "left arrow" keys simultaneously to select the previous tab. Stop (Mac and PC) Press the "Esc" key to stop a page from loading. New Window (PC) Press the "CTRL" and the "N" keys simultaneously to open an additional browser window. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and the "N" keys simultaneously to open an additional browser window. Close Window (PC) Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "W" keys simultaneously to close the current browser window. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "W" keys simultaneously to close the current browser window. Forward (PC) Press the "ALT" and "right arrow" keys simultaneously to go forward one page. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "[" keys simultaneously to go forward one page. Back (PC) Press the "ALT" and "left arrow" keys simultaneously to go back one page. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "]" keys simultaneously to go back one page. Close Tab (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "W" keys simultaneously to close a tab. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "W" keys simultaneously to close a tab. Home (PC) Press the "ALT" and "home" keys simultaneously to go to your Home page. (Mac) Press the "Opt" and "home" keys simultaneously to go to your Home page. Shortcuts for Bookmarking/Creating Favorite Webpages Using ... Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox 3.5 Computer Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Bookmark Current Page (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark the current page. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark the current page. Bookmark All Tabs (PC) Press the "CTRL," "shift," and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark all tabs. (Mac) Press the "CMD," "shift," and "D" keys simultaneously to bookmark all tabs. View Bookmarks (PC) Press the "CTRL" and "B" keys simultaneously to view your bookmarks. (Mac) Press the "CMD" and "B" keys simultaneously to view your bookmarks.
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